Gutted Perth Glory midfielder Neil Kilkenny needed injections to play

Heartbreak for Perth Glory

VideoPerth lost the A-League grand final in a penalty shootoutVideo: Getty Images

Perth Glory midfielder Neil Kilkenny has revealed the extent of the ankle injury he played through during the A-League finals campaign.

In the A-League’s best-kept secret, the 33-year-old ruptured ligaments in an ankle during a training mishap which he felt could have ruled him out for four to six weeks during the regular season.

He required pain-killing injections to get him through the semifinal win over Adelaide United and last night’s heartbreaking grand final loss to

Sydney FC at Optus Stadium.

“I had ruptured ligaments and stuff like that so I was happy to play the second game, let alone the first game,” Kilkenny said.

“It’s one of those things you know, injuries come at the wrong time and sometimes you have to push through it.

“I’ve been taught that throughout my career that you have to push through injuries and I had to do that tonight.

“I had to play through a couple of injections but I’m happy to do it to help the team out.”

Kilkenny said it was a tough pill to swallow to easily be the A-League’s best side all season and win the Premiers’ Plate, only to have their season decided on penalties.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” Kilkenny said.

“I felt we were the better team, they sat in and tried to hit us on the break.

“If I’m honest there wasn’t many chances in the game but we dominated the ball.

“Penalties can go either way. Nine days ago luckily it went for us and obviously tonight it went against us.”

Kilkenny believes it’s just the start of something special for the Glory under coach Tony Popovic, especially with the team making its Asian Champions League debut next season.

Star attacker Chris Ikonomidis said the whole squad had

rallied around retiring champion Brendon Santalab, who squandered his penalty to give the Sky Blues a 4-1 victory in the shootout after 120 minutes without either team scoring in a tough way to farewell the A-League.

“I pulled him aside and said ‘just keep your head up’ because he’s a mentor for me and a lot of other boys at the club,” Ikonomidis said.

“He’s had a big impact for all of us this year and he’s got nothing to be embarrassed about or upset about.